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I juat switched last night. Much faster than tying, right now I have a (small) problem in that I used webbing that I already had, which is too narrow, too thick & to slippery. It works, sort of, but if not TOTALLY TIGHT as soon as I put weight in the hammock it slips & I go to ground*. So last night I simply tied the tail end back on itself with a simple knot & slept fine all night. SO, as soon as I can, I'm getting the right webbing.

*I didn't fall, just slid swiftly to the ground. This also happened when I got up in the middle of the night as the tension had been reduced by stretch. Once I tied a knot I was golden.

When you have a backpack on, no matter where you are, you’re home.
PAIN is INEVITABLE. MISERY is OPTIONAL.

loosening webbing from rings

The received wisdom in this thread is that to simplify loosening up the webbing from the rings when packing up, you can
a) pull the standing end of the webbing off to the side to loosen, or
b) thread a doubled back loop of webbing between the rings when tightening up, so that you can loosen completely just by yanking on the standing end.

Like many HH users, I crank up the tension tight. Technique a) above is the one I end up using most often, but it takes me a fair bit of wiggling back and forth and working of the rings (which are tied to the spectra pretty tightly). I have trouble with technique b) in that when I'm tightening up to begin with, the two layers of the loop tend not to stay together, and I'm left with a jam of dubious holding quality. So I yank it and go back to the single layer of webbing through, and end up struggling with a).

This weekend when I was fooling around on my DIY bridge hammock, I was experimenting with ways to get guy out lines really really tight. I looked up block and tackle. Before realizing that I should be using the block and tackle on the individual guy out lines, I was trying to get tension on them indirectly, running the block and tackle between tree and ring buckle. What I was doing, in effect, was creating slack on the webbing between ring buckle and tree, which I would then tighten up.

But this solves my original problem too---I can loosen the webbing and rings by creating slack on the webbing between tree and ring buckle. Here's how.

Attach a spare descender ring or nano wire carabiner to the spectra on the hammock side of the ring buckle, using, say, a Prusik knot. The ring or carabiner ought to be close (like just under) the ring buckle. With a separate bit of high rate cord, loop around the tree and attach another ring or carabiner. This should be positioned under the point where the webbing departs the tree and makes a string line for the ring buckle. The loop also ought to lie on top of the webbing, so as not to hurt the tree with what we do next. Tie a bit of high rate cord to one of our extra rings, then loop that cord 2 or 3 times between it and the other extra ring. Now pull on the standing end of the extra cord a few inches, and tie it off. The mechanical leverage of the block and tackle will have loosen the tension on the webbing in the ring buckle, and getting it out now is a snap.

The received wisdom in this thread is that to simplify loosening up the webbing from the rings when packing up, you can
a) pull the standing end of the webbing off to the side to loosen, or
b) thread a doubled back loop of webbing between the rings when tightening up, so that you can loosen completely just by yanking on the standing end.

Like many HH users, I crank up the tension tight. Technique a) above is the one I end up using most often, but it takes me a fair bit of wiggling back and forth and working of the rings (which are tied to the spectra pretty tightly). I have trouble with technique b) in that when I'm tightening up to begin with, the two layers of the loop tend not to stay together, and I'm left with a jam of dubious holding quality. So I yank it and go back to the single layer of webbing through, and end up struggling with a).

That is one of the reasons that I can't understand why that CC Buckles aren't used by more people instead of rings. They don't require any backup knots or doubled up loops, they pull tight and hold firmly, are easily adjustable, require no practice, and at $4/pair are dirt cheap. Seems like a no brainer to me.

“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy

tensions riding high

Originally Posted by angrysparrow

That is one of the reasons that I can't understand why that CC Buckles aren't used by more people instead of rings. They don't require any backup knots or doubled up loops, they pull tight and hold firmly, are easily adjustable, require no practice, and at $4/pair are dirt cheap. Seems like a no brainer to me.

It's not been obvious to me from the discussion about CC buckles that they would be any easier to loosen under the kind of tension I'm seeing. I know that I can, with effort, loosen a ring buckle by moving the standing end enough, I'm not seeing how to loosen a CC buckle if things are really tight. Going with a system known to loosen---eventually---versus one that may not, well, seems like a no brainer to me too. Perhaps I misunderstand the CC buckle,

But since the CC buckles are dirt cheap, and since I know now how to take the tension off if need be, I'll get a pair and see for myself.

That is one of the reasons that I can't understand why that CC Buckles aren't used by more people instead of rings. They don't require any backup knots or doubled up loops, they pull tight and hold firmly, are easily adjustable, require no practice, and at $4/pair are dirt cheap. Seems like a no brainer to me.

I'm game, I ordered some CC Buckles today and will try them out. So far I am happy with the ring buckles and I haven't been tying slip knots. I will admit ONE time when I sat in my hammock it very gently let me to the ground. Upon inspection I did not have the loose end of the webbing straight back towards the tree, so I chalk it up to user error.